Crystal Palace have only recently been formed as a football club and in the first round of the FA Cup on 12th January 1907, they faced a massive challenge with a tie against a side that had made the final of the competition in the previous two seasons and had won the First Division title in 1904-05 – it was Newcastle United.
The Eagles had to qualify for the tournament in a game against Rotherham County, a game that was forced to be played at Stamford Bridge with the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre being booked for an international rugby game in South Africa’s tour of 1906-07.
Estimates suggest that 1,500 Palace fans made the trip to Stamford Bridge to watch the qualifying tie and it was one worthwhile as the Glaziers won 4-0, putting them into the first round draw where they drew the football heavyweights.
Newcastle were drawn the home side, a ground where they had not been beaten in the league or cup since 25th November 1905 and alongside that statistic – the Toons had not lost a home tie in the FA Cup since 1896. In contrast, the Glaziers were struggling in the Southern League First Division after being promoted in their first season as a football club from the Second Division.
Few Palace fans made the trip to St James’ Park which was filled with 28,000 Newcastle fans which were expecting an easy victory and a significant cup run, similar to ones of previous seasons.
The hosts failed to impose themselves on the game early on with passes going astray across the pitch, allowing Palace to take advantage with the gained possession; winger Dickie Roberts outran and caused trouble for Newcastle’s Scottish international Andy McCombie and despite his crosses not reaching any of his teammates they started to unsettle the home crowd.
Roberts was controversially denied a goal shortly after the opening 20 minutes as after turning the Scottish defender once again, his shot that ended up in the back of the net was ruled out for offside. It was from this point onwards that Newcastle start to move into action with the hosts themselves having a goal ruled out for offside after carving the Palace defence open to create a few chances of their own.
It was shortly before half-time that the Glaziers scored the opening and only goal of the tie as Hoarce Astley managed to get past a number of defenders before smashing it home past a shocked Jimmy Lawrence who seen Palace counter-attack with speed in-front of his eyes before the goal.
Newcastle started the second half the better side despite not making their chances count with Palace having more on the counter attack which included two key opportunities to put the visitors further ahead in the game as Woodger was denied, twice within a matter of minutes by goalkeeper Lawrence.
Palace had to play the final six minutes with ten men after their centre half Ryan was injured for a second time in the afternoon after an earlier collision with Newcastle’s forward Speedie which allowed the Magpies to apply increasing pressure on the Glaziers’ keeper Hewiston with the hosts forcing a corner ending in a goal-mouth scramble that ended with the keeper gathering the ball.
The full-time whistle was blown only a short amount of plays after, giving Palace the honor of one of the most memorable FA Cup defeats. Palace made it to the quarter finals after being eventually knocked out by holders Everton in a replay after holding them to a 1-1 draw at home before losing the eventual replay 4-0 at Goodision Park.
Where did they go?
Two players of key note that were involved in the fixture for Crystal Palace were George Woodger who went on to represent England and play for Oldham Athletic whilst Charlie Wallace moved to Aston Villa to win the FA Cup in 1913 and 1920 alongside winning the league in 1910.
Strange Fact
Wallace became the first player in the 1913 FA Cup Final to miss a penalty in a cup final.
